gulosity

Definition of gulosity

Did You Know?

Gulosity is a rare word for gluttony that sees only occasional use in English these days. It derives via Middle English and Anglo-French from the Latin adjective gulosus ("gluttonous") and ultimately from the noun "gula" ("gullet"). It was apparently a favorite word of famed 18th-century author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, who has been falsely credited with coining "gulosity," even though evidence for the word’s use dates back to the 15th century. According to his biographer, James Boswell, Johnson was no light eater himself: he "indulged with such intenseness, that while in the act of eating, the veins of his forehead swelled, and generally a strong perspiration was visible."